(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector including a first connector housing, a locking arm formed on the first connector housing, and a second connector housing, in which the second connector housing is fit to the first connector housing locked in a hole of a panel.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A wiring harness for use in a motor vehicle as a mobile unit includes a connector having a pair of connector housings which fits to each other on a condition that the pair of the connector housings puts a panel constructing a vehicle body therebetween. That is, the panel is positioned between the pair of the connector housings. The panel is provided with a hole which lets the pair of the connector housings pass therethrough.
Such a connector is known, in which one connector housing (hereinafter, first connector housing) is fit to another connector housing (hereinafter, second connector housing) on a condition that the first connector housing is locked in a hole of a panel (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 2005-259553, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 2000-348830, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open 2003-338346). The connector includes: the first connector housing, which is allowed to pass through the hole of the panel; a locking arm, which is formed on the first connector housing and locked to an inner edge of the hole; and the second connector housing, which is fit to the first connector housing.
When the first connector housing is allowed to pass through the hole, the locking arm is resiliently deformed in a direction, in which the locking arm approaches the first connector housing, and locked to the inner edge of the hole, so that the first connector housing is locked and held in the hole of the panel. At that time, the first connector housing is held having a certain looseness between the first connector housing and the panel so that the first connector housing is easily fit to the second connector housing with absorbing a positional shift when first connector housing is being fit to the second connector housing. Thereafter, a worker lightly pulls the held first connector housing in a direction reverse to the insertion direction of the first connector housing so as to confirm whether or not the first connector housing is securely held in the hole of the panel.
However, since there is the looseness between the first connector housing and the panel, therefore the worker possibly might pull the first connector housing in a direction crossing the direction reverse to the insertion direction of the first connector housing (for example, in an oblique upper direction) when the worker pulls the first connector housing in the direction reverse to the insertion direction of the first connector housing.
When the first connector housing is pulled in the oblique upper direction, the locking arm is affected by a force in an oblique upper direction, that is, in a direction crossing the direction in which the locking arm is resiliently deformed on a condition that the locking arm is locked to the panel. Therefore, when the locking arm is largely deformed in said direction, the locking arm is affected by an excess stress causing a problem that the locking arm is twisted so as to be permanently deformed or damaged.
Once the locking arm is permanently deformed or damaged, the locking arm cannot serve a sufficient holding force causing a problem that the first connector housing cannot be stably held in the hole of the panel and cannot be properly fit to the second connector housing and therefore, terminal fittings received in the respective connector housings cannot be electrically connected to each other.